1. Field of the Invention
The present Invention relates to a music delivery method and a music delivery system. More particularly, the invention relates to a method and a system for delivering music by way of computer or communications networks, which are preferably applied to delivery of a music data including voice data and performance data.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, music may be classified into xe2x80x9cvocal musicxe2x80x9d including vocals (i.e., the sound of a voice or voices) and accompaniment (i.e., the sound of a musical instrument or instruments in the background) and xe2x80x9cinstrumental musicxe2x80x9d including only the sound of a musical instrument or instruments. Conventionally, almost all pieces of music to be delivered to specific receivers by way of computer or communications networks are vocal music. If piece music are delivered as they are, they require a wide communication band during transmission and a large amount of storage medium in storing or recording. Therefore, to decrease the data amount to be transmitted, it is usual that digital music data corresponding to a piece or pieces of music are subjected to irreversible data compression utilizing the human psycoacoustic sense, such as the MPEG (Moving Picture Experts Group) Audio, ATRAC (Adaptive Transform Acoustic Coding), or the like, prior to delivery. After being delivered, they are expanded for reproduction of the piece or pieces of music on the receiver side.
With prior-art methods and systems for music delivery using one of the known irreversible data compression techniques, there is a problem that the possible highest compression rate for digital data of an original music is restricted to approximately one-tenth ({fraction (1/10)}) or less with respect to the original data amount. This is because if the compression rate is further increased, the sound quality of a reproduced original music degrades excessively.
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a method and system for delivering music by way of computer. or communications network that reduce further the data amount of music to be delivered compared with the above-identified prior-art methods and system while preventing or effectively suppressing degradation of the sound quality of reproduced music.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a method and system for delivering music by way of computer or communications network that enhances the irreversible data compression rate while preventing or effectively suppressing degradation of the sound quality of reproduced music.
The above objects together with others not specifically mentioned will become clear to those skilled in the art from the following description.
According to a first aspect or the invention, a system for delivering music is provided, which comprises:
(a) a music delivery subsystem for generating a delivering data from an original music data including a voice data and a performance data;
the music delivery subsystem comprising a compression coder and a multiplexer;
the compression coder compression coding the voice data or the original music data, thereby generating a compression-coded voice data;
the multiplexer multiplexing the compression-coded voice data from the compression coder and the performance data of the original music data, thereby generating a delivering data;
(b) a network for allowing the delivering data to be transmitted; and
(c) at least one music reproduction subsystem for reproducing an original music corresponding to the original music data from the delivering data transmitted through the network;
the at least one music reproduction subsystem comprising a demultiplexer, performance data configurer, a voice data decoder, and a mixer;
the demultiplexer demutiplexing the delivering data to the compression-coded voice data and the performance data;
the performance data configurer configuring a musical performance from the performance data, thereby forming a performance configuration;
the voice data decoder decoding the compression-coded voice data to generate a voice data;
the mixer mixing the performance configuration from the performance data configurer and the voice data frog the voice data decoder, thereby generating a mixed data corresponding to the original music.
With the system for delivering music according to the first aspect of the invention, in the music delivery subsystem, the compression coder makes its compression-coding operation to the voice date of the original music data, thereby generating the compression-coded voice data. The multiplexer multiplexes the compression-coded voice data from the compression coder and the performance data of the original music data, thereby generating the delivering data. The delivering data thus generated is then transmitted through the network.
Thus, the delivering data is generated by multiplexing the compression-coded voice data of the original music data and the performance data thereof. Therefore, the amount of the compression-coded voice data is reduced due to its narrowness of the communication bandwidth and at the same time, the amount of the compression coded voice data will be null or zero in the introduction and episode parts of the original music. As a result, the data amount of music to be delivered is further reduced compared with the above-identified prior-art methods and systems. This means that the irreversible data compression rate is enhanced.
On the other hand, in the at least one music reproduction subsystem, the demultiplexer demultiplexes the delivering data thus transmitted by way of the network to the compression-coded voice data and the performance data. The performance data configurer forms the performance configuration from the performance data thus demultiplexed. The voice data decoder forms the voice data from the compression-coded voice data thus demultiplexed. Then, the mixer mixes the performance configuration and the voice data, thereby generating the mixed data corresponding to the original music.
Thus, the musical performance of the original music is reproduced according to the performance data transmitted from the music delivery subsystem in the at least one music reproduction subsystem. Data compression is unnecessary for the performance data. As a result, the sound quality degradation of the reproduced music is prevented or effectively suppressed.
In a preferred embodiment of the system for delivering music according to the first aspect, the multiplexer of the music delivery subsystem adds time stamp data to the voice data and the performance data. The music reproduction subsystem comprises a synchronizer for synchronizing the voice of the original music and the musical performance thereof with each other through comparison between the time stamp data of the voice data and that of the performance data.
In another preferred embodiment of the system for delivering music according to the first aspect, the compression coder of the music delivery subsystem is designed not to generate the voice data while the original music includes no voice.
In still another preferred embodiment of the system for delivering music according to the first aspect, the voice data is generated to form a monophonic or monaural voice and includes an utterance point data (e.g., the stereophonic position data and the depth data of hte utterance point). The voice data decoder of the music reproduction subsystem decodes the compression-coded voice data to generate the voice data using the utterance point data.
According to a second aspect of the invention, a music delivery subsystem is provided, which comprises:
(a) a compression coder for compression-coding a voice data of an original music data to thereby generate a compression-coded voice data; and
(b) a multiplexer for multiplexing the compression-coded voice data from the compression coder and a performance data of the original music data, thereby generating a delivering data.
With the music delivery subsystem according to the second aspect, a music delivery subsystem suitable to the system according to the first aspect is provided.
In a preferred embodiment of the music delivery subsystem according to the second aspect, the multiplexer adds time stamp data to the voice data and the performance data. The time stamp data of the voice data and that of the performance data are used for synchronization between the voice data and the performance data.
In another preferred embodiment of the music delivery subsystem according to the second aspect, the compression coder is designed not to generate the voice data while the original music includes no voice.
In still another preferred embodiment of the music delivery subsystem according to the second aspect, the voice data is generated to form a monophonic or monaural voice and includes an utterance point data (e.g., the stereophonic position data and the depth data of the utterance point).
According to a third aspect of the invention, a music reproduction subsystem for reproducing an original music from a delivering data including a compression-coded voice data and a performance data multiplexed together is provided, which comprises:
(a) a demultiplexer for demultiplexing the delivering data to the compressing-coded voice data and the performance data;
(b) a performance data configurer for configuring a musical performance from the performance data, thereby forming a performance configuration;
(c) a voice data decoder for decoding the compression-coded voice data to generate a voice data; and
(d) a mixer for mixing the performance configuration from he performance data configurer and the voice data from the voice data decoder, thereby generating a mixed data corresponding to the original music.
With the music reproduction subsystem according to the third aspect of the invention, a music reproduction subsystem suitable to the system according to the first aspect is provided.
In a preferred embodiment of the music reproduction subsystem according to the third aspect, a synchronizer is further provided for synchronization between the voice data and the performance configuration through comparison between a time stamp data of the voice data and a time stamp data of the performance data.
In another preferred embodiment of the music reproduction subsystem according to the third aspect, the voice data is generated to form a monophonic or monaural voice and includes an utterance point data (e.g., the stereophonic position data and the depth data of the utterance point).
According to a fourth aspect of the invention, a method for delivering music is provided, which comprises the steps of:
(a) compression coding a voice data of an original music data, thereby generating a compression-coded voice data;
(b) multiplexing the compression-coded voice data from the compression coder and a performance of the original music data, thereby generating a delivering data;
(c) delivering the delivering data to at least one music reproduction subsystem by way of a network;
(d) demultiplexing the delivering data to the compression-coded voice data and the performance data in the at least one music reproduction subsystem;
(e) configuring a musical performance from the performance data, thereby forming a performance configuration data in the at least one music reproduction subsystem;
(f) decoding the compression coded voice data to generate a voice data in the at least one music reproduction subsystem;
(g) mixing the performance configuration data formed in the step (e) and the voice data generated in the step (f), thereby generating a mixed data corresponding to the original music data in the at least one music reproduction subsystem.
With the method for delivering music according to the fourth aspect of the invention, the voice data of the original music data is compression-coded, thereby generating the compression-coded voice data in the step (a). The compression-coded voice data from the compression coder and the performance data of the original music data are multiplexed, thereby generating the delivering data in the step (b). The delivering data is delivered to the at least one music reproduction subsystem by way of the network in the step (c).
In the step (d), the delivering data is demultiplexed to the compression-coded voice data and the performance data in the at least one music reproduction subsystem. Then, the musical performance is configured from the performance data, thereby forming the performance configuration in the at least one music reproduction subsystem in the step (e). The compression-coded voice data is decoded to generate the voice data in the at least one music reproduction subsystem in the step (f). The performance configuration formed in the step (c) and the voice data generated in the step (f) are mixed, thereby generating the mixed data corresponding to the original music data in the at least one music reproduction subsystem in the step (g).
Accordingly, the amount of the compression-coded voice data is reduced due to its narrowness of the communication bandwidth and at the same time, the amount of the compression-coded voice data will be null or zero in the introduction and episode parts of the original music. As a result, the data amount of music to be delivered is further reduced compared with the above-identified prior-art methods and systems. This means that the irreversible data compression rate is enhanced.
Moreover, the musical performance of the original music is reproduced according to the performance data transmitted through the network in the at least one music reproduction subsystem. Data compression is unnecessary for the performance data. As a result, the sound quality degradation of the reproduced music is prevented or effectively suppressed.
In a preferred embodiment of the method for delivering music according to the fourth aspect, time stamp data are added to the voice data and the performance data. The voice of the original music and the musical performance thereof are synchronized with each other through comparison between the time stamp data of the voice data and that of the performance data.
In another preferred embodiment of the method for delivering music according to the fourth aspect, the voice data is not generated while the original music includes no voice.
In still another preferred embodiment of the method for delivering music according to the fourth aspect, the voice data is generated to form a monophonic or monaural voice and includes an utterance point data (e.g., the stereophonic position data and the depth data of the utterance point). The compression-coded voice data is decoded to generate the voice data using the utterance point data in the step (f).